I Might Be Just Beginning
by h0bbes
Summary: And suddenly everything is right in Will Zimmerman's world.


The world comes down in flames and tears, and just like that it is new again. Will sees it; he sees it walking along with her, arm in arm across the great bridge. Her Sanctuary (for it truly is Helen Magnus' Sanctuary) is a vision in white and sun and it takes his breath away. There is even a light to her eyes, her entire manner. Secrecy has never become her and Will sees a Helen Magnus that is as light as air, dressed in an airy grey, stepping lightly. He can't help but smile, staring at her, and when she notices, her nose wrinkles just a bit. "No, you're not just dreaming, Will."

"You look good."

"You could do with some work." she says it so candidly he can't help but laugh out of shock. "Cheeky." he says, bumping arms. Her laugh chimes pleasantly across the water. A ways off, Will sees ripples. "There's not...anything living in there, is there?" She makes a face he's only seen a handleful of times. "Oh, William. Perish the thought." That instills absolutely nothing, which gives him a slight pause before she gently tugs him along.

The front door glides (glides) soundlessly open and welcomes him to a vast, great hallway. It's not like before when he walks in. No organ music. Only, the soft calls of abnormals, free to do as they wish. He looks at her again, pausing to look herself. She glows, he thinks.

A century of secrets put a great pressure on Helen Magnus, and now here she is, a diamond, as big and bright as anything he's ever seen.

"What do you think?" she is terribly casual about it. Like he'd not just spent a week in mouring, a week of no sleep to fight back the image of his home (their home) burning to the ground that had permanently sealed itself behind his eyes. He knows, behind that door are people he loves with dark shadows hanging over them. She makes a face when he doesn't answer. "Not too...galactic?"

"Naw." he tries to brush it off quickly, for her. "Henry would be in heaven though." Oh. The pause is heavy. She catches his sadness this time. "Yes..." she adds quietly, dipping her head to meet his eyes with a smile. "He quite likes it, too."

Henry rounds the corner just then, tablet balanced on his hip and in rapt conversation with Tesla. The dressage is curious on them, but it is unmistakably- "Will!"

He was never a fan of sweeping romantic films. And this isn't it. Not really. But Will most definitely reaches Henry halfway, and they almost collapse in a giant pile. Tesla strides by at a leisurely pace, a look of mild disturbance that is all him- raised eyebrow and palm pressed against the pocket of his vest. Will is rather occupied by the slow crushing of his ribs, but Henry spins him quickly and it's in plain site. Helen's hands rest at her side as Tesla comes to stand by her. And then...and then they're not, threaded together like it's the most natural thing in the world. Will is Henry's for the next four hours. They walk, and talk, and stare. It is a whole new world (a brave new world, he chuckles to himself. Magnus' not so secret adoration of Huxley), and Will can't quite put the pieces together. "I didn't know what to tell Erica." he blurts out as they stand on the glass ceiling of one enclosure, examining a thriving family of what appear to be six armed sloths with heads like insects. "Aw, man." Henry pales then. "You...you didn't though? I mean...that would be the world's worst practical joke."

"Yeah...yeah it kind of would."

"But, uh...everyone else. They're okay, right?"

Will doesn't quite meet his eyes. "No, it's not." he's honest. "Not yet."

This riptide will leave the surface in turmoil for months, years even. Will doesn't tell Henry everything, but he gives him the short list: Kate refuses to leave Biggie's side. Not five minutes passes without an alert from the news, a problem with their wayward vagrants, SCIU wobbling after them on broken legs. It's Declan's show now, as far as anyone is concerned. New York and London, the Sanctuary's last stand. Henry smiles at that. "Not anymore."

"All in her plans?"

"Dude, just wait."

Henry drags him to dinner. It seems like a terribly small affair, even smaller when Will looks around the dining hall and down the expanse of table that is, he swears, straight from the work of Doctor Seuss. He laughs with them, and he can't quite remember what it had felt like before. It feels surreal. Henry and Tesla banter, Tesla hands out a compliment offhandly (in his way, even after everything he is still Nikola Tesla) and Magnus tries and fails to hide her amusement behind her wine glass. Will surprises himself in joining in and Magnus' smile is blinding then. Eventually, it winds down. "You must be tired." He nods. So very tired.

Still, he lays there, unsleeping, staring up at the curved ceiling, light reflected from the water outside dancing along. The sheets are slick, and cool, but empty without Abby there (that weight, an extra set of arms, a warm body to hold onto for dear life) and he lasts an hour before swinging his feet over the side and padding down the hallway in barefeet and grey pajamas (yeah, they're definitely going to have to have a talk about wardrobe around here). Her rooms are just down the hallway, she said though as he walks Will grows less and less hesitant. What if she isn't even there? Wrong room?

Two doors down, the door opens and Will catches the tale end of conversation, "...going to check on something so you can just take that off- William." Tesla doesn't even sound the slightest embarassed, though he looks down after a moment and rezips his pants. Will doesn't quite know what to say to that. Nikola just sighs miserably and slumps his shoulders. "Go in. I'll just...be in the lab. Until...later."

He's not sure if he wants to go in after that. Just to be sure, he knocks first before there is a soft "come in." Magnus is in little more than a dressing gown (though she stands by the wardrobe, obvious that she'd at least tried to put on something else first. His cheeks are pink as she gestures to a chair in the corner. He fumbles his words for a moment before settling on "So. Tesla."

"Yes. Tesla." she counters with that defensiveness that aches of familiarity. They have a stare down for a moment and it's Magnus that looks away. "Long, long story."

"A century's worth I'd imagine."

Magnus looks at him. "Yeah, figured that out, too."

"I thought you were supposed to be sleeping."

"I couldn't."

"I don't blame you." she folds her arm about her chest, pulling the robe tighter. "Where do you want me to start?"

He smiles. "Wherever you'd like."


End file.
